The Lives of The Hatake Clan
by Otaku Ink
Summary: Sakumo met a young woman from the Hidden Rock Village during the Chunnin Exam. Their first feelings of each other: Total Dislike. Will love ever blossom for those two young genin? R&R Sakumo/OC OC/OC
1. Meeting the Gang

_**I am thinking of changing my penname. Thinkerandwriter is just to dull. I think it should be something related to the Akatsuki. Oh well… I decided to try to a fanfiction about the lives of Kakashi's parents. Bear with me here…I don't know much about his parents. To tell you the truth, I know more about his father than I do about his mother. I've searched countless websites for information on her and all I got was information I already knew about Sakumo and Kakashi…. Grr…. So his mother in this fanfiction will be my OC. **_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did then the Akatsuki members who died would still be alive. _**

**The Lives of The Hatake Clan**

**Chapter 1: Meeting the Gang**

"So this is the famous Konoha." A young woman spoke aloud to her comrades as they approached the gates with the kanji 'fire' painted on them. "Let's show those leaf ninjas what the Hidden Rock Village is made of!" She pulled her unruly frizzy black hair into a ponytail and tightened her Iwa hita-ate.

"Kukiko no baka." One of her comrades said rubbing his temples with his left hand. "We are just here for the Chuunin exams. No need to get so worked up."

"Oh Takeshi! You and Daijiro need to lighten up!" Kukiko said with a smirk as she looked in her bag for the passports. After searching for a while, she gave a nervous giggle and said, "Ano…Daijiro…Do you happen to have the passports with you?"

"No, I gave them to you at the teahouse a couple miles back… Don't say you lost them!" Daijiro shouted grabbing Kukiko's neck and started to strangle her. "Ack! Dai..jiro!...Can't…breathe!!" "Daijiro-san, let go of Kukiko this instant." Takeshi pulled Daijiro away from Kukiko who was still emitting a killer aura at the girl. "I have the passports here." He said waving three passports in Daijiro's face. "I noticed that the baka over there left these on the table as we left. I grabbed them on the way out."

Kukiko smiled sheepishly as she moved her hands through her hair. "Hehehe. I knew I forgot something at the teahouse. Thank you Takeshi!"

The boys sighed as they continued on the way to Konoha. "Daijiro-san, I've told you countless times that you can not give important documents or actually anything to Kukiko! She's misplaced more things than we can count! Remember that time we went on a mission with Torao-sensei. We gave her the tents and food supply…" "Hai, Hai… We spent a week sleeping outdoors in the rain and living on berries. We all caught flu's by the time we got home."

"It's not my fault! A bear came and…" "We've heard the excuse before Kukiko. A bear came and demanded those items for its annual hibernation. Geez Kukiko. Think of another excuse will ya." Daijiro mumbled as they went through the Konoha gates.

* * *

"Halt! Stop right there and give us your names and reasons for being here." The guards said as they stopped the kids from going any further.

"We are here for the Chuunin exams. Our names are none of your business." Takeshi said giving the guards their passports. "Our names are on the passports, baka." Kukiko mumbled under her breath. "Urusai!" Takeshi yelled at her hitting the top of her head. "ITTA! That hurts!" Kukiko said rubbing her new bruise.

"Well, these papers seem to be accurate. You three are free to go ahead." The guards replied handing over the passports and stepped aside. "Domo Arigato!" Kukiko responded cheerily as she ran off dragging her comrades with her. She was skipping and taking in the sights of Konoha in awe. "This village looks much wealthier than ours!" She spoke after a while. "Oi! Oi! Kukiko! Watch where you're going!" Daijiro shouted at her.

"Nani?" She said as she turned to Daijiro before crashing into a silver haired kid with a ponytail wearing a white t-shirt with a red zigzag on the sleeves and a leaf hita-ate. They both fell on their butts from the impact of the crash. A blond haired kid with cerulean eyes laughed at his friend and the strangers.

"Who are you? Especially to rudely crash into….Minato! For Kami's sake, stop laughing!" The silver haired kid snapped at his friend.

The blond haired kid ignored his friend and fell to the floor holding his stomach still laughing. "Minato! It's not that funny!" The silver haired kid yelled at him hitting him on his head while the Iwa genin sweatdropped. "Does every leaf ninja act like this?" Kukiko whispered to her companions. Minato stopped laughing and glared at his friend saying "ITTA! Why did you do that?!" Rubbing his head, he got up of the road.

"Nevermind Minato. We will talk about it later. Now. Who are you three. I've never seen you in Konoha before." "You know, It's polite to say your name first before asking what ours is." Takeshi said in a huff. The silver haired kid glared at him and said "Fine. My name is Hatake Sakumo and this baka is Namikaze Minato. Now, state your names and the reason for you being here. We aren't really on friendly terms with you rock ninjas."

"You don't have to be so rude about it. I'm Kagome Kukiko and these are my companions Hayashi Daijiro and Sato Takeshi. We are here for the Chuunin exams. We aren't here to attack your precious village, so don't worry about it." Kukiko smirked at him and then asked "Gomen-nasai, but can you tell us where the nearest hotel is. My comrades and I are exhausted from the long trip from the Hidden Rock to here."

"Hai. It's a couple of blocks north. Now, Excuse us, but we must find our senseis, sayounara!" Sakumo replied as he rushed off dragging Minato by the wrist; leaving a cloud of dust for the Iwa genin to choke on.

* * *

"What a weird bunch. Okay. Takeshi! Sign us up for the Chuunin exams. Being the Iwa representatives this year is a special honor! Daijiro and myself will check into the hotel. See you later!" Kukiko grabbed Daijiro and ran off to the main village where the hotels were according to Sakumo.

"Hey! Who made…you boss of this…" Takeshi said as he watched them leave. "Oh, forget it. That girl is as stubborn as a mule." He sighed as he kicked a pebble on the road and walked to the Hokage tower to grab a couple of Chuunin exam applications.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakumo and Minato managed to find their senseis. Minato's sensei was hiding in a bush watching the women bathers, and Sakumo's sensei was passing by. They both went there separate ways to talk to their own sensei.

"Yo Ero-sannin!" Minato said waving to Jirayia. Jirayia shushed his student as he giggled watching the women. "WHY ARE YOU WATCHING THEM BATHING!?" Minato shouted to get Jirayia's attention. "URUSAI! I'm gathering research! Now shut.." Hearing feet tapping, he gulped and turned to face a dozen angry women bathers.

"Konnichiwa, Jirayia-sama." The women bathers said before beating the tar out of the old pervert and walking off.

Minato was laughing through the whole spectacle. Jirayia turned to face his star pupil and yelled at him "Why did you do that you baka! You ruined my research." "I want to talk to you about the chuunin exams." "Oh, that. I was meaning to talk to you before I went to gather some research. Here are the applications. Turn them in by tomorrow afternoon. If you want to become a chuunin that is. It's up to you. Now, I must go home and apply some antiseptic. No thanks to you gaki." Jirayia replied getting up nursing his wounds.

Minato yelled with joy and filled it out immediately before rushing to find his friend. Sakumo found him first and shouted "Yo! Minato! Are you entering the Chuunin exams this year?" Minato smiled at him and responded "Hell yes! I want to learn more about that Iwa babe!"

Sakumo hit his friend on the head and said "Is that the only reason you are entering the Chuunin exams? To hang out with some chick? Minato..You have been hanging around Jiriayia-sensei too long. He is starting to affect you."

Minato glared at Sakumo and replied "Humph. This is going to be a long exam if you keep bonking me on the head."

Sakumo just smirked and said "Ya…I want to learn more about these Iwa genin myself…but not the way you do. You stay away from Kukiko. I don't need to ward off two angry cellmates of hers from you."

Minato huffed and said "Humph. I can protect myself Sakumo-teme." Sakumo just laughed in response.

* * *

In a hotel room, a mile away, Kukiko sneezed and said to herself "Someone is talking about me. Probably going on about how great and powerful I am." Daijiro who was in the room when she said that just rolled his eyes and prayed that this exam would end quickly.

* * *

**_Please review and tell me what you think. Or Sasori will turn you into his human puppets! LMAO! JK! Kukiko-san won't be pregnant with Kakashi for a couple of chapters. She is too young right now. I might save the pregnancy for the sequal. Depends on how many reviews I get. Anyway... Have to work on the Chuunin exam chapter.. At least Orchimaru won't interfer with it for another twenty years or so... lol... Please review! Bye!!_**


	2. The Chuunin Exam: The Written Portion

**Thank you for the reviews: **_**Sakra-chan and ninbunny alchemist**_**! I'm so glad that people are enjoying the story! Thank you everyone!!! Enjoy this chapter!! **

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, then I wouldn't have to worry about Kakashi and Itachi. Itachi! Kick Sasuke's ass!!! Kakashi! Don't fight Madara!!! Grab Naruto and run away!!! **_

**Tobi: You are a baka…you know that don't you.**

_**Ahh! Uchiha Madara! Get out of here!!! **_

**Tobi/Madara: You know my secret? I'll have to kill you then.**

_**Gulp…Read the chapter, while I deal with Madara. Oh! Madara-sama, look! Deidara and Sasori came back to life! **_

**Tobi/Madara: ****Really? I thought only Hidan could do that.**

_**Sayounara baka**__**!!! (bolts away)**_

**Tobi/Madara: Nani? Come back here you brat!!!!!

* * *

**

**Chapter 2: The Chuunin Exam**

The next morning, Kukiko awoke earlier than she normally would have. The sun was just beginning to rise and her cellmates were snoring loudly in the bed next to her. They were practically draped over each other. Smirking, she quietly crept out of bed and grabbed her camera out of her bag. Stifling her giggles, she sneaked up to the bed and began snapping pictures of them in that position. "This is perfect revenge! They won't be bonking my head anymore!" She thought to herself with glee.

Daijiro awoke when the camera started flashing. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Looking at Kukiko with the camera in her hand, he groggily asked, "Kukiko, what are you doing with that camera?" She lost control and started laughing hysterically.

He looked at her with a confused expression. Then he rolled his eyes as he turned to his left and started to fall asleep again. "Ohayou Takeshi…" He mumbled as he closed his eyes. A couple of seconds passed when he snapped open his eyes and looked at his right arm on Takeshi's torso.

He tumbled out of bed screaming. Kukiko was on the hotel floor still laughing. Takeshi grumbled as he pulled the pillow over his head. "You two are so loud…Can't a guy get any sleep around you two!?"

Daijiro picked himself up off the floor and glared at Kukiko. "Kukiko! Were you taking pictures of me and Takeshi asleep?" Kukiko gave a nervous grin and hid her camera behind her back. "Nani! Why would you accuse me of such a thing? It's not like I planned on using the photos for blackmail or anything." Daijiro ran at Kukiko screaming "KUKIKO! GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!!!" Kukiko ran away running around the room screaming "No! No!" She grabbed her bag off the floor then ran into the bathroom and quickly locked the door, holding her camera tightly to her chest.

Daijiro ran to the bathroom door and began pounding on it. "Kukiko!!" He shouted. "Unlock the door!" Takeshi grew frustrated and threw his pillow at his friend.

Daijiro glared at him and shouted, "Takeshi!! What did you do that for!" "I'm trying to sleep here. You and that baka are making to much noise." Takeshi said sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He then looked at the clock and emitted a killer aura. "The exams don't even start for another three and a half hours. Why are you morons making a racket so early in the morning?"

"Kukiko took pictures of us sleeping together and is planning to use them as blackmail!" Daijiro shouted. Takeshi pinched the bridge of his nose and said menacingly "Why do I have these ahous as cellmates?" He laid back down on the bed and closed his eyes. "Daijiro-san. Just wait for Kukiko to come out of the bathroom. When she comes out, tell her that if she doesn't hand over the camera, then we will report her to Torao-sensei. He's coming this afternoon to watch our performance in the exams." Takeshi yawned and said "Disturb my sleep again and I will kill you." Then his breathing evened out and started snoring again.

Daijiro mumbled curses under his breath and walked away from the door.

* * *

Shortly after Kukiko ran into the bathroom, she heaved a sigh of relief as Daijiro pounded on the door. "He can't get in! I win!!!" She giggled with glee as she looked for a way to escape. Deciding to refresh up, she took a quick shower. Then as she got out, she pulled on the clothes she had in her bag. "Thank goodness I grabbed this before Daijiro caught me." She snickered and found the bathroom window. 

She heard Takeshi threaten Daijiro as she opened the window and climbed out. She jumped to the street below thanking kami that they were on the first floor. "Time to explore Konoha! It looks like I have some time before the exam." She snickered as she adjusted her bag and fixed her hair into a ponytail.

* * *

Two hours later, Kukiko was found walking through the market carrying numerous bags of merchandise. "Konoha has great stuff." She looked at her watch and whispered "The exam starts in an hour and a half. I should probably head back to the hotel." Looking around, she scratched her head and asked to no one in particular "But where is the hotel?" 

A couple of blocks ahead, Minato was causing trouble. The shop owner was kicking him out as Kukiko spotted him. "Ohayou!" Kukiko shouted at him. Minato stood up and rubbed his bum. He looked over to Kukiko and shouted with joy "Ohayou, Kukiko-chan!" (1) He ran over to Kukiko with his arms wide open ready to embrace her.

Just as he reached her, she kicked him in the shin. "What is your name again? Was it Kinato or something?" Minato wheezed and spoke through the pain "Close…It's...Minato."

Kukiko smiled and said "Oh! Minato! Do you know were the Silver Leaf Hotel is?" Minato smirked and said "It's straight ahead of us, Kukiko-chan."

Kukiko looked straight ahead and saw the hotel. She blushed in embarrassment and quickly responded "Of course! I knew it was there! I was… ano... just testing you. Yeah. That's right! I was just testing you Minato!" Minato gave a wide grin and asked "Did I pass?" Kukiko breathed a sigh of relief and thanked kami that the boy was a complete moron. "Hai! You passed. Now your prize is that you get to carry these shopping bags back to the hotel."

Minato still grinning said in reply "Really! Give me those bags then, Kukiko-chan!"

Kukiko smiled as she handed over the shopping bags and giggled as the bags made Minato lean forward under its weight. "Are you okay, Minato?" "Hai, Hai! I'm fine! Now, let's go!" He said walking forward as slow as a tortoise. Kukiko was far ahead of him when she turned around and saw him struggling. "Oi! Minato! Can you hurry up, please! The exam starts in an hour! My cellmates will be furious if I'm late!" "I'm coming…I'm coming. Don't worry about me, Kukiko-chan!"

* * *

Just as he said that sentence, Sakumo walked around the corner. "Hey, Minato. There you are. Jiriayia-sensei told me to tell you that he wants you at the Academy right now." "Why? We still have an hour left." "Don't ask me. I'm only the messenger. I suppose he is still furious that you ruined his research yesterday." Sakumo said putting his hands in his pockets and leaning against the nearby wall. 

Minato grumbled about perverted teachers and threw the shopping bags at Sakumo. Sakumo was not expecting that and fell to the ground, buried under the merchandise. "You baka! What did you do that for?!" Sakumo shouted as he struggled out of the mess. Minato sniggered as he helped his friend out. He was given a bruise on his head as a thank you gift. Minato rubbed his head groaning. He was about to speak when Kukiko ran up to them and said "Gomen. But Minato was helping me carry my purchases back to the hotel for me. I'm sorry if it caused any trouble." Kukiko said putting up an innocent face.

"Carry these yourself, Kukiko." Sakumo said tossing the packages at her. She caught them as she shouted "NANI! Why can't you carry them for me?"

"You've got two hands. Do it yourself." Sakumo responded walking off, dragging Minato with him.

* * *

As she watched them leave, an irk mark appeared on her forehead and she muttered "What a jerk. I will not hold back on him if I see him at the exam." She said walking to the Silver Leaf Hotel. She tripped about three times on the way there. Each time she tripped, she cursed Sakumo. 

When she arrived back at the room where she and her team was staying, Daijiro walked up to her and shouted "KUKIKO! Where have you been! We thought you were still in the bathroom. We had to use the lobby bathroom!!"

Kukiko deposited the packages on her bed and said "I escaped through the bathroom window. I spent the rest of the time exploring Konoha and doing some shopping. I must have lost track of time. If that ahou, Sakumo would've helped me, then we…"

Daijiro hit the top of her head repeatedly shouting "Don't blame your stupidity on someone else! The bathroom door is locked! When the exam is over, you go and unlock it, BAKA!"

"ITTA! Stop it!!" Kukiko said covering her head. Takeshi grabbed Daijiro and said "Don't hit her anymore. You both need to conserve your energy for the exam. Don't be morons and waste it. Kukiko. Go unlock the bathroom door right now. We'll leave when you are done."

"Hai." She ran to the door, and pulled out a pin that she kept in her hair. Using that as a key, she managed to unlock the door. "Done, Takeshi!" She said with a wide grin on her face.

"Okay. Let's go. We might just make it on time if we run." Takeshi said heading to the door with the other two right behind him. As soon as they reached the lobby, they bolted towards the Academy as fast as they could.

* * *

With three minutes to spare, they ran to the third floor, not noticing the genjustu placed on the second floor. As soon as they passed through the doors, the exam instructor was starting to announce the seating arrangements. They listened and grabbed a stone with a number on it and sat in the seat with the same number. 

As luck would have it, Kukiko was sitting right beside Sakumo. She glared at him while the instructor was explaining the rules of the first test, which was a written test. "What's with you? You look like you ran from a pack of Jounin level rouge shinobi." He pointedly said. "Urusai. We were running late. That is all." She said curling her hands into a fist. Sakumo nodded his head and continued listening to the instructor.

As the test started, Kukiko looked over the nine questions and thought "Only Jounin level shinobi can answer these questions. What are they thinking giving them to us?" Thinking about it for a while. She snapped her fingers and said to herself. "The rules make sense. We have to cheat without getting caught!! But how."

Further into the test, teams started getting kicked out. Kukiko glanced over at the Chuunin proctors and watched as they scribbled things on the clipboard and kicked people out of the room. She bit the tip of her pencil, scratching her head in frustration. "The test is almost over and I haven't answered a single question. How am I supposed to cheat without getting caught? I saw someone take glances at their neighbor's paper and the proctors kicked him out. So cheating off Sakumo is definitely out of the question."

"Time for the last question." The instructor said. "Damn. I'm too late. Gomen nasai, Takeshi, Daijiro, Torao-sensei." "If you choose to take it and you fail, you will remain genin forever. Stripped of the privilege to continue taking the chuunin exam. You can leave now and take it again, next year." Half of the room quickly got up and left. Kukiko, Minato, and Sakumo's team stayed where they were they sat.

"Those of you who stayed, you pass." The instructor said leaving the room. The remaining teams cheered for joy as the second exam proctor walked in. "Six teams left. Okay then. The remaining teams, talk to your jounin sensei. They will tell you about the next exam. Meet me at the Forest of Death in one hour. If you even a second late, then you and your team will be disqualified. See you gakis later." She said as she walked back out.

Kukiko gave a sigh of relief as she got up to join her cellmates. "Where is Torao-sensei anyway, Takeshi?"

Takeshi shook his head and said "I don't know. He was supposed to be here by now."

"You guys passed the first test? Good job. But now the exam will get difficult from here on out." A voice said that was coming from a dark doorway on Daijiro's left side.

* * *

**_Please leave a review. It took me all day and most of the night to write this._**

**Tobi/Madara: It would have been shorter if you didn't take all those breaks.**

**_Madara-sama! What are you still doing here? Aren't you supposed to be fighting Team Kakashi right now?_**

**Tobi/Madara: My clone is doing it for me. I'll go soon enough.**

**_Hai. Hai. Just don't frighten off my readers. Anyway, the next chapter will be the Forest of Death chapter. Look forward to it!!! _**

**_(1) Do you think I should make Minato act like Sanji from One Piece? Or will that be too OOC for him? _**


	3. Forest of Death Part 1: Trouble Brewing!

**Thank you for the reviews everyone!**

**Sakra-chan: Don't worry about it! I'm just happy that you are enjoying the story! **

**ninbunny alchemist: Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I'll need it. I'll let you know if I want to borrow her. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, If I did, everyone would be able to tell if Haku is a boy or a girl. **

**Now everyone, enjoy the chapter!!

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**

**Chapter 3: The Forest of Death Part 1**

"Torao-sensei!" Kukiko shouted to the owner of the voice as he approached the group. "Where have you been?"

"Gomen, but I had some missions to do for the Tsuchikage before I was able to come here." He said ruffling Kukiko's hair. "I'd wish you'd stop doing that." She grumbled as she fixed her hair. Torao smirked as Takeshi asked him to tell them about the next exam.

"Okay then. I will tell you about the next exam and you three better pass it. It will show Konoha, no, all the Elemental Countries that the Hidden Rock Village is no village to mess with!"

Torao started going on about how the Fire country humiliated them in the past, so Daijiro snapped and dragged Torao's jounin vest close to him and yelled; "OI! Torao-sensei! Just tell us about the second exam already! We only have an hour to get to the forest gates!!"

Torao ran his hand through his brown locks and sighed "Fine." He pulled a crumbled piece of paper out of his pocket and read off it aloud: 'Your genin will have their next exam in the forest of death.' He looked at the paper and sighed; "Forest of Death? Weird name…why would you name a forest deat….?"

Daijiro interrupted, his face turning red with rage. "Torao-sensei! Could you please hurry up!!"

Torao rolled his eyes and continued reading the paper 'They will have to take two scrolls to the center tower of the forest before five days and four nights are up. They will only be given one scroll. They will have to steal the other scroll from another team. There are two scrolls: Heaven and Earth. They are not allowed to have two of the same. If they reach the tower without each scroll and/or all of their teammates, or two of the same scroll, then they can not proceed unto the next exam. No rules apply in getting the scrolls. They can gather the scrolls in any way possible.'

"Do you all understand the instructions?" Torao asked looking at each of his pupil's faces.

"Hai!" They all said simultaneously. Daijiro then said "Ok. Give us the scroll so we can be on our way." Torao smirked and replied "You don't get your scrolls with me. You'll have to go to the gate of the forest to get them. Also, you guys only have twenty minutes to get there. You three better run!"

"Nani?" Kukiko shouted. "Oh no!" She grabbed her cellmate's wrists and forced chakra into her feet as she ran towards the forest, leaving a trail of dust for her sensei to choke on.

Torao choked on the dust and wheezed as he said "cough Go...od luck…kids cough" After that he walked to the Silver Leaf hotel to check in.

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They made it to the forest gates with four minutes to spare. They were all dripping with sweat. Daijiro glared at Kukiko while Takeshi wiped off the sweat and walked over to the exam instructor.

"Kukiko-swan!!!!" Minato said waving at her. "Oh. Hello Minato-kun." She said smiling at him. "You are taking the exam too?" "No, I'm here to watch the teams off into the forest…Of course I'm taking the exam!" Kukiko said slapping his head.

"I will protect you, Kukiko-swan with my life!!" Minato said grasping unto her left arm tightly.

Kukiko grimaced in pain as she pried Minato off her arm saying "Arigato, Minato-kun, but I won't need any help. I can manage just fine with my cellmates." Minato smiled and said "Okay, Kukiko-swan!" He then glared at Takeshi who approached them with consent forms in his hand.

"Hello, Minato." Takeshi said to him. Minato glared at him and walked over to his team. "Hey Takeshi. What are these for?" Kukiko asked as he gave her a form and walked over to Daijiro.

"Oh. These are in case anything happens to us, like we are injured or we die, then the examiners are not going to be held responsible for it." Kukiko's and Daijiro's eyes widened as Daijiro shouted "Death?" "Hai. Now sign these forms."

Kukiko signed the consent form without hesitation muttering; "I will get you back, Hatake Sakumo for embarrassing me at the market."

Daijiro looked over at the consent form, sweating profusely. "I can do this. I trained years for this. I must surpass my elder brother. I can do this." He repeated to himself over and over in his head.

* * *

After the forms were signed, Takeshi took them back to the examiner and received their scroll. He placed them in his bag and walked back to his team. "Now, that I have the Heaven scroll…" Takeshi spoke, as he looked at his cellmates faces and saw Kukiko reaching into his bag for the scroll. He slapped her hand away and continued saying "We have been assigned to stand by gate number three and wait for the examiner's whistle to begin the exam. Kukiko, you are not to be trusted with the scrolls since you lose things so easily." 

Kukiko pouted and crossed her arms retorting; "I don't lose things easily. It's Daijiro who pushes me and I tend to drop them." Daijiro's face began to turn red with fury as he tried to defend himself by saying "It's not my fault that you lose our things that easily! Don't go pinning the blame on me!!" "It is your fault! If you didn't bully me all the time, I could have an easier time holding onto things!" She retorted back.

Takeshi sighed as he rubbed his temples. He walked up to both of them as they were fighting and smacked their heads together.

"ITTA!" They both shouted as they rubbed their heads. Takeshi hissed in anger at them "We are the Iwagakure representatives for this exam. You two are humiliating all of Iwa with your insistent fighting!" All three of them looked around and saw everybody watching them; some with amusement, some with curiosity, and others with just plain annoyance.

Kukiko's face grew red with embarrassment as Daijiro snapped and shouted at them "What are you all looking at? There's nothing to see here! Go away!" Takeshi clenched his fists and bopped his friend on the head hard. While Daijiro was moaning in pain, Takeshi apologized to everyone replying "Gomen, everyone. My cellmates were just looking forward to some friendly competition. You all may continue what you were doing. Sorry about the disturbance." He said as politely as he could.

As everyone turned away from them, Takeshi pinched Daijiro on the cheek. "You are in the Chunnin Exams for Kami's sake. Stop embarrassing the Tsuchikage and all of our people."

Kukiko snickered at Daijiro, so Takeshi turned around and started to scold her "You too! You started this whole mess. Think about how your actions will affect Torao-sensei and everyone else next time!"

Kukiko pouted, crossed her arms and was about to retort when Takeshi interrupted her saying "Enough! Now we have to stand by gate number three." He said walking towards the gate. Kukiko and Daijiro glared at each other as they followed him towards the gate.

Minato's team was at the gate beside Kukiko's team. He tried to get her attention but she was too busy glaring at Daijiro to notice him.

Sakumo's team was about two groups to the left of Kukiko. He was busy thinking of the quickest way to get the Heaven scroll and the quickest path to the tower.

When the examiner blew into her whistle, the gates opened and all the teams ran into the forest starting their exam.

* * *

Kukiko ran ahead of her cellmates, jumping for joy. Takeshi told her to calm down and then said "We need the Earth Scroll, so we need to find a team that has one immediately. No bloodshed until we find the cell that has one." 

"Okay!" Kukiko said. She was planning on saving her energy for her vengeance. Daijiro was disappointed. His brother told him that he killed at least half of the cells when he took the exam. Kukiko sensed his disappointment and said "You do know that your brother failed the Chunnin exam at least three times before passing. You don't need to take the exam the same way he did."

Daijiro huffed and replied "It's a matter of pride, Kukiko. Something you wouldn't understand." "Of course, I wouldn't understand it. You are a guy and I'm a girl." She retorted. He was about to make a comeback when Takeshi shushed them. "Will you two shut up?! I hear voices ahead!"

They became as quiet as a mouse and the noises got louder as they approached. One of the voices sounded like Sakumo. "We need to find that Heaven scroll so we can get out of here quickly. I don't like this forest at all." A whiny girl on Sakumo's team complained.

"They have the Earth scroll? That's great!" Daijiro shouted as he ran to them. "DAIJIRO!!" His cellmates shouted. "Hand it over and we might let you live." Daijiro said.

Takeshi caught up with them and apologized for his friend's behavior. Kukiko glared at Sakumo and said "We challenge you for the Earth scroll. No killing. If we lose, we will give you the Heaven scroll." She responded.

"We accept the challenge." Sakumo said getting into his fight position. His cellmates followed him, pulling out kunai and shuriken as they were getting into their position.

As the teams were getting ready to fight, Rain ninjas were watching the fight in a tree, planning to kill the winning team and take both scrolls.

* * *

**I know what you all are thinking. Haven't updated in a while and I give you this. I'm sorry. I had a huge writer's block and I was also procrastinating. I'm sorry. I hope you enjoyed this, sorry for making you wait so long. If you are still reading this, then I'll give you a hug and a sugar cookie!! XD **

**Next Chapter is Forest of Death: Part 2... Look forward to it**


	4. Forest of Death Part 2: Rock Vs Leaf

**Thank you for reading my story also:**

**Sakra-chan: Yay! I'm so glad that the update made your night!!!**

**ninbunny alchemist: Yeah, Writer's block is annoying, isn't it?**

**mathcraze: I have updated this as soon as I had free time. **

**Thank you for the reviews! You made me so happy!!! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never have, never will. **

**Chapter 4: The Forest of Death Part 2**

The two cells prepared for the battle, unaware of the Rain shinobi concealed in the trees.

Kukiko started the battle by making a few hand signs and disappearing behind Sakumo. She kicked out her leg to kick his chest, but he caught her leg and threw her aside.

Scowling, she quickly jumped up and dodged shuriken thrown at her. One shuriken managed to graze her left elbow. She hissed in pain as she grabbed her elbow. Using that opportune moment, Sakumo did a couple of hand signs and disappeared. Kukiko looked up and wondered where he went. "That coward ran off." She muttered.

She then screamed as she felt something grab her ankle and pull her towards the ground. Her body became submerged under the ground, only her head was above the surface as Sakumo appeared from his hiding spot under the soil.

Kukiko glared at him as she struggled to free herself. Sakumo said in disappointment "That's it? I was hoping for a better fight. You disappoint me, Kukiko."

"Urusai! Once I free myself, you are dead!" She retorted in rage moving her arms in an effort. Sakumo smirked and walked off to help out his weakest team member in her fight.

As he strolled off, Kukiko freed herself and after brushing the dirt off she made a few hand seals then nearby vines crept up to Sakumo and wrapped itself around the boy.

Sakumo was surprised as the vines tied him to a tree. "How did you do that? You were stuck!!" Kukiko smirked and said "I pretended that I couldn't get out. Daijiro used to play that little trick on me all the time when we were academy students. I taught myself how to remove oneself from that little predicament. When you turned around to help out your cellmate, I used that little trick and once I was out of the hole, I then did the jutsu my mother taught me."

After her little explanation, she tossed a kunai at Sakumo and then she tightened the vines and replied "Now, that you can't get out but we promised not to kill anyone. Oh well, I will help out my cellmates, although I doubt that they will need my help."

Sakumo cursed as he tried to take the vines off, but it tightened and strengthened itself anytime he moved.

* * *

As Kukiko was occupying Sakumo, Daijiro threw kunai at the whiny girl and threw a few punches in as she was distracted. She used the substitution jutsu, so when Daijiro hit the log, his fist bruised a little. The girl then made a tiger seal and shouted "Earth Landslide!"

Daijiro heard some rumbling and saw a flood of soil and mud coming towards him. He ran off as fast as he could, but he was caught in the avalanche and was quickly buried under it screaming.

Kukiko was just finishing up with her battle as she heard his screams. Cursing, she ran to the girl and Daijiro. Daijiro was nowhere to be seen, the only thing that was there was a huge pile of earth piled up. She turned to the girl and shouted "We agreed before we started fighting that we would not kill anyone!!"

The girl shrugged her shoulders and replied "He is not dead, yet. If you still want him alive, you best get him out before he suffocates." Sakumo smirked and shouted to her "Oi! Maki! Help me out here!"

Maki looked over at him and responded "No. I think keeping you like that would lower your ego a bit. You can stay there, while I finish with the rock genin, so we can get out of here!!"

Sakumo was about to retort in anger as Kukiko made a few hand signs and the vine wrapped itself about his mouth. Sakumo glared at both girls as he muffled out his rage.

Then Kukiko started to dig out Daijiro, but Maki tossed a few kunai at her. Kukiko dodged it and made a few hand seals. Logs flew around Maki and made a wall around her. (1)

Maki screamed for her Uchiha cellmate to help her out, but he was busy with Takeshi, so he ignored her. (2) 

When that was done, Kukiko rapidly dug for Daijiro's life.

* * *

Takeshi looked over at his opponent for any weaknesses. His foe started to get impatient after two minutes went by so he started to make a hand sign. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Takeshi dodged the flame in time, singeing his clothes a little. He gave a sigh of relief as he made his move. Takeshi quickly made a couple of hand signs and poofed and reappeared behind the Uchiha.

He aimed to hit the back of the Uchiha's head with the hilt of his kunai, but his enemy seemed to be expecting that and blocked the kunai with his arm, grabbing unto Takeshi's arm with his other hand and tried the same jutsu. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

He smirked as the body in his grasp turned into ash. But Takeshi was not harmed, he did the substitution jutsu and a log took the damage for him. He whistled at the Uchiha from a tree branch, smirking as he transported himself away from the kunai being thrown at him.

The Uchiha was getting impatient as he threw shuriken at Takeshi this time, but Takeshi dodged those also.

Takeshi then felt the earth shake and heard Daijiro's screams. He made a few hand signs and a whirlwind went around the Uchiha. Then he ran towards Kukiko and helped her dig Daijiro out.

Once Daijiro was freed from the earth, his clothes were muddy and filthy and he inhaled the air like it was candy. Kukiko rubbed his back and hugged him. Takeshi glared at the leaf genin and spoke "You tried to kill not only me, but you nearly killed my friend. You lose. We agreed not to kill each other and you guys couldn't wait to get our blood on your hands. Give us your Earth scroll now!" He demanded, clenching his fists removing the whirlwind from the Uchiha.

"No. We are ninja. It is what we are supposed to do. We are not supposed to trust the enemy." Maki said huffing. Sakumo sighed and glared at his cellmates. The Uchiha glared and gave them their scroll. Maki was protesting the whole thing, shouting at her cellmates for giving away their only scroll. The boys ignored her as Kukiko undid the jutsu binding Sakumo to the tree. Sakumo stretched his muscles, glad to be free.

* * *

As Takeshi put the scroll into his bag, the rain shinobi jumped from their hiding spots and said "We were somewhat entertained by the battle."

Kukiko glared at them and demanded "Who are you guys and how long have you been watching us?"

One Rain shinobi smirked and responded "We are genin from the Hidden Village of Rain. We have been hidden since the battle began. We are looking forward to spilling some blood." His companions snickered with glee as they pulled out kunai and did hand signs and clones of them appeared. (3)

Both cells prepared to battle. The clones walked up to them and stood around them in a circle. The real ones threw kunai at them as the genin were slashing at the clones. But every time they slashed the clones, it would repair itself and walk even closer to the genin.

After an half an hour, both groups started to get exhausted and wear down on their attacks on the clones. Maki collapsed onto Daijiro. Daijiro shook her off and gathered the conscious shinobi to him. "We will need to distract them. Oi! Uchiha! Did you copy the move they made to make those clones?"

The Uchiha nodded his head and Daijiro smirked "Good. Your bloodline limit can come in handy. Make a clone of yourself and me and then transform yourself into one of them."

"So, we can attack the real ones?" The Uchiha asked. Dajiro nodded as the Uchiha made a clone of himself and then transformed himself into a rain shinobi, Daijiro transforming himself at the same time as the Uchiha.

They managed to trick the clones and walk out of the tight circle dodging the kunai. "When will those rain shinobi run out of kunai?" They both muttered as they looked for the source of the kunai being thrown.

They found the ninja, only two were throwing the weapons hidden in the trees, two of them were together, snickering. Daijiro and the Uchiha went separate ways. Daijiro went to the two ninjas and the Uchiha went towards the last one.

Since they were caught off guard, they were beat up till they were unconscious. The Uchiha went through there bag and found both scrolls. He and Daijiro walked up to the gang and showed them the scrolls. The clones disappeared when the real shinobi were defeated.

* * *

"They must have been trying to eliminate competition." Takeshi said looking at the scrolls and handing them over to the leaf genin.

"Since we both have our scrolls, we can head to the center tower." Sakumo said getting up picking up Maki and putting her arm around his shoulder and put his other arm around her waist.

"I say we should do that tomorrow morning, because we won't know if any traps would be laid ahead of us and we should regain our full strength before moving onwards." Kukiko suggested looking at Maki and Daijiro.

"That's a good idea, but we can't spend the night in an open area such as this. We need to find a more secluded area, away from each other." Takeshi said.

"Come on. We both have each of the scrolls that we need. One person from each cell can stay up, keeping an eye on the other team. It's getting late and we each have people who need to rest, Takeshi!" Kukiko replied, giving Takeshi puppy eyes.

"Fine. I'll take the first watch with the Uchiha." Takeshi said, crossing his arms.

Kukiko smiled at him and then replied "Okay then, we will need to find a place to sleep." She gathered the things and walked off, the others following her.

"I remember finding a cave near the river a while back that we can use. The entrance is hidden by the trees. We will be able to stay there as long as no one lights a fire." Sakumo said looking at his cellmate.

"Tch. I won't light a fire." The Uchiha said huffing.

"Good. I will keep you to that, Ryuu. Okay, let's go." Sakumo lead the way to the cave he found earlier that day and let everyone in first. Then he looked around for spies and entered the cave last.

Maki was on the cave floor, using her jacket as a pillow. Daijiro was beside her fast asleep. Kukiko stretched and laid her back against the wall, looking bored.

Takeshi looked at her and said "Kukiko, go to sleep. I'll let you know when your watch is." "Okay, Takeshi." She said, closing her eyes.

Sakumo looked at everyone and said "How did we end up together again?" He shrugged his shoulders and laid down. He closed his eyes and eventually fell asleep to the light breathing and the crickets outside.

* * *

**1. I tried making up a jutsu to the best I could. **

**2. Yes, I gave Sakumo an Uchiha cellmate. I figured that they had more Uchiha's since this is taking place way before the massacre.**

**3. It is not a Kage Bushnin. It is one of the clones used against team 7 during the Chunnin exams with Kabuto.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am not good at writing fighting scenes. I worked hard on it though. Please review! Thank you!! Next Chapter is the Final Test. Look forward to it. I'm skipping the preliminaries since they won't have a lot of surviving teams like Naruto did. **


	5. Announcing the Final Exam Opponets

**I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I have been busy and lazy. And I had a major writer's block. Also, if you read the manga, I am so upset with my favorite character's passing. TT… Anyway! 15 reviews!! My story is getting popular! XD!! And now time to answer my latest reviews: By the way! Starting the next chapter, I won't write a comment for every review I get. It takes time and space and I'm sure everybody skips this section anyway. **

**Sakra-chan: Thank you for the compliment. Writing battle scenes is hard for someone that always writes romances like me! XD **

**ninbunny alchemist: I usually don't plan ahead… I should... but there might be an attack. During the hiatus period, I was thinking of what to do next. Wait and see!! **

**mathcraze: Aw! Thanks! You made me so happy when I read your review!! :D**

**Raven the Ravenous: Thanks for finally reviewing. I guess I will stop pestering you now about it. **

**Miss-Monster-Kimono: Thank you. I have always wanted to write a viewpoint on Kakashi's parents. More his mom, than his dad! XD Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, If I did, my favorite character would still be alive and my least favorite character would have died in his place. Brownies to anyone who can guess who I am talking about! **

* * *

After a long night of keeping guard and rotating between them, the sun slowly rose in the sky. Kukiko's eyes fluttered open as the sun gently touched her closed eyelids. As her eyes fully opened, she sat up and stretched out her arms and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She then glanced around the campsite and smirked when she saw Daijiro asleep on Maki's shoulders and Maki was looking annoyed.

"Daijiro fell asleep on guard duty again." Kukiko said to herself. She smirked when she thought about how angry Takeshi would be when he saw him fast asleep on the job again. Looking around she saw Takeshi's eyes slowly opening. "Speak of the devil… Takeshi is waking up."

While Takeshi was waking up, Kukiko looked over when she heard movement and saw Sakumo packing up the camp gear. "What are you doing packing so early in the morning?" She asked him.

"I would rather leave now then wait for enemies to attack us." Sakumo replied as he kicked awake his Uchiha cellmate named Hiro. (1) Maki pushed Daijiro off of her shoulder and stretched her limbs.

Daijiro grunted as he hit the ground and yelled "Oi! Maki! What did you do that for?"

Maki responded "First, it is time for my team to leave; secondly, I don't like anybody drooling on my shoulder. That is so disgusting!!" Daijiro blushed with embarrassment as he replied "I did not drool on your shoulder! I never drool!" Maki then showed him the drool stain on her right shoulder.

Before Daijiro could respond, because by then his face was bright red from humiliation, Takeshi's eyes opened and he said "Cell Iwa… I hope you guys are ready to go, because as soon as I pack up my things we are leaving." Daijiro got up and threw his things together glaring at Maki who just sat there with a smirk on her face. Kukiko had watched the whole scene between the two and she was desperately trying to hold in her laughter.

By then, Sakumo and Hiro were ready to go and then Hiro yelled at Maki "Oi! Maki, stop the flirting and come on!" Maki blushed and shouted "Baka. I wasn't flirting! I was just telling him to…"

Sakumo grabbed her wrist and dragged her away before she could finish her sentence. "You two can bicker about this later. I would rather not wait to be attacked like a dumb mouse standing still as a cat is approaching."

A minute after they left, Takeshi zipped up his backpack and threw it on his shoulder. "Okay. Let's go." Daijiro and Kukiko zipped up their own backpacks in silence and followed Takeshi out of the cave.

* * *

An hour or so had passed and they saw the tower in the distance. Kukiko squealed with joy as Takeshi checked to make sure they had both scrolls. As he nodded his head towards his cellmates, he led the way towards their final destination.

When they got halfway there, they heard the sounds of battle nearby. Kukiko was curious and she wanted to see the battle, and Daijiro was also eager to see the battle. Takeshi scowled and said "That battle is none of our concern. I would like to avoid that and finish this test." But his voice wasn't heard as he turned to face his cellmates and they were already halfway to the battle site. "Wait a minute!!" He shouted at them as he ran after them furious with rage.

* * *

Reaching the site, Kukiko and Daijiro peeked over the bush and saw the Konoha team caught in a battle with some Cloud ninjas. "It looks like they are losing." Kukiko whispered watching Maki get kicked in the stomach. Daijiro got mad and got up to help her out, but Kukiko and Takeshi held him down.

"This is their fight not ours. Do not interfere, Daijiro!!" Takeshi hissed in his ear as Daijiro struggled in his arms. Hearing that, Daijiro stopped struggling and could only watch as Maki got beat up.

A couple of minutes went by; Daijiro grew more impatient as he wanted to help her. Kukiko watched as Sakumo dazed and confused did not see the Cloud nin distract him as another one threw a kunai at his back.

Kukiko grew furious at that and threw her kunai at the Cloud ninja's weapon tossing it aside. Before Takeshi could yell at her for doing that, she got up and ran towards the battle, kicking the Cloud ninja on their torso.

Daijiro got up shortly after she did and ran to help Maki out. Takeshi groaned and joined the battle unhappy with his cellmates.

Daijiro pulled out his kunai and stabbed the Cloud ninja who kicked her in the chest. He laughed as the enemy fell down bleeding. "That's what you get for messing with my woman!"

Maki glared at him and repeated "Your woman? Who is 'your' woman?" Daijiro blushed and said "Did I say that… You must be imagining things. I did not say that."

Meanwhile, Kukiko poofed behind the Cloud ninja and knocked him into a tree with a slight kick. Sakumo held his head, fighting the dizziness he got when he was knocked into the ground and got stomped on. "I don't need you to protect me, Kukiko." Sakumo spoke as he tried to focus his vision on her.

Kukiko scoffed and replied "You don't need me to protect you, yet you can't stand or see without getting dizzy." Sakumo recovered as he said "I can protect myself, even when I'm like this. I…" He stopped midway as the ninja who was thrown into the tree coughed up tree branch pieces and ran with the intent to kill Kukiko. Sakumo pulled out some shuriken and tossed them at the Cloud shinobi pinning him to the tree.

Kukiko saw that and said "I didn't need you to protect me. I was prepared for him." She said lying under her breath. "I am one of the strongest genin in Iwa after all."

Sakumo rolled his eyes and said "If you are one of the strongest genin in your village, then the Iwa military is unsurprisingly weak." Kukiko's fists twitched and she replied trying to hold down her anger. "Now, wait a minute! My village is so strong, if we were to go to war with Konoha, we would win in two seconds!!"

Sakumo laughed and responded "Yeah. Right. Konoha would be the one winning in two seconds, not Iwa." She scoffed and said "I regret saving you from having a kunai stuck in your back." She shouted at her cellmates "Takeshi, Daijiro! Let's go. We have a test to complete!" Then she bolted out of the battle site, face red with fury.

Takeshi had finished the last Cloud shinobi while his allies retreated. Then he pulled Daijiro away from Maki pulling his ear, following Kukiko.

* * *

When they had left, Maki glared at Sakumo who had watched the Iwa genins leave. Sakumo looked at her and asked her in an annoyed tone "What?"

Maki continued to glare at him and said "I know you like her. Why are you treating her like crap?" Sakumo laughed saying "I don't like her! I barely know her!!"

"Sure. Then how come when she came to help us out, you didn't push her out of the way like you do with everyone else who comes to help us?"

"Because I was hoping that the enemy would kill her." He said wiping the blood off of the weapons and putting them away.

"If you were hoping for them to kill her, you would not have pinned the shinobi to the tree with your shuriken." Maki said walking away from him towards the tower, dragging an unconscious Hiro with her. Sakumo just stood there with pondering what she had told him until Maki came back and dragged him with her free arm to the tower.

* * *

Kukiko and her team reached the tower and opened the nearest door. Takeshi had read the writing on the wall and shrugged his shoulders as he opened the Earth scroll and Kukiko opened the Heaven scroll simultaneously.

A cloud of smoke appeared and they all coughed as a bored shinobi appeared from the summoning scroll. "Congratulations, you have passed the test with a day to spare. Now, all that is left is for you to show off your skills in front of the shinobi world within a month." He said droning on in a monotone voice.

Kukiko jumped up with joy and said "Yay! We passed! We passed! One step closer to being Chunin!! YAY!" She shouted so loudly that all three boys had to cover their ears to prevent themselves from going deaf.

The Chunin exam proctor had his eyes wide open as he told them still wincing from Kukiko's outburst. "Come back here tomorrow at noon for tournament information and the name of the person you will be fighting. With that said, he poofed away to talk to the other teams who had passed the second exam.

* * *

Kukiko was squealing with joy as Takeshi grabbed her shoulders and shook her. She stopped bouncing and looked at him asking "What?"

"Okay. Now. We will go to our room in this tower to rest up. Or I will. You be in our room which is on the second floor of this tower by sunset. If I have to go looking for you, I will be very unhappy." Takeshi said walking away from her. Daijiro followed him, Maki on his mind.

Kukiko explored the tower on her own, when she ran into Minato. Or Minato ran into her is more like it. "Kukiko-chan! How are you? Did you pass? Of course you passed! What am I saying? Hey... you wanna sneak out of here and get some ramen? My treat of course!"

Kukiko looked at him like he was crazy and said "Um.. Hey there.. Minato-kun. I will go with you... just let me go and get something."

Minato whooped with joy as he said "Okay then Kukiko-chan! I will wait for you right here!" Kukiko smiled at him and walked quickly towards her room where her cellmates where settling for the night not wanting to spend any time with Minato alone.

* * *

When she reached the room, she flopped down on the nearest futon and sighed saying "Guys. I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat?"

Daijiro tossed her a bento which she caught and thanked him. She ate it silently. That was surprising for her cellmates, because she almost never stopped talking. Even in her sleep, she would say a few words.

"Oi, Kukiko. What's wrong?" Daijiro asked throwing away his finished dinner.

"Oh. Nothing. Nothing is wrong." Kukiko mumbled as she threw away her half-finished bento and closed her eyes.

Takeshi's left eyebrow went up as he knew something was wrong with his friend but he stopped Daijiro who was about to pester her with another question. "Daijiro, if she dosen't want to talk about it, she dosen't have too."

Kukiko then spoke up and said "I can't believe he would say that! Iwa is not weak! My father wouldn't go easy on me while we were training and my father is a very good shinobi! I can't believe I saved him. What a jerk."

The boys sighed and said "Oh.. forget about it." They put cotton balls in their ears and laid down to sleep. Kukiko talked herself to sleep, but just as her eyes closed for the night, the last thought that crossed her mind was "I'm forgetting something? Am I? No…It's just Minato. I'm not forgetting a thing." And then she fell fast asleep.

* * *

Minato stood in the same spot as the night wore on. He was sleepy and saying to himself "Oh… Kukiko-chan's coming. She just may have misplaced whatever it is she's looking for. His stomach then rumbled. "Oh. I want some ramen right now."

* * *

The next morning, the Iwa genins were getting ready to hear about the final exam. Kukiko was so exicted, the boys could care less about it. Around 11:30, they left the room and bumped into Minato who was sleeping on the floor. Kukiko felt a tad guilty and shook Minato awake.

"Kukiko-chan! You are here! Finally!" Minato said sleepily. "Wanna go and get some ramen right now?"

Kukiko shook her head and said "Minato-kun…Its 11:32 a.m. right now. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Minato nodded his head and dragged himself towards his team.

Kukiko frowned as she ran towards her cellmates. "I shouldn't have done that. I feel so guilty. I'll make it up to him sometime before going home."

* * *

They reached the room where they met the proctor the previous day and he was waiting for them. "Finally. You guys are here." He said

Takeshi replied "We are five minutes early." The proctor waved his hand and said "The tournament will be held in a stadium with representatives from each shinobi nation. This is built to show off each countries military strength. So, your representatives are depending on you to make it look like they are a worthy opponent or ally whatever. Here are the people you will be fighting. He said handing them a piece of paper and poofing away.

Daijiro looked at the paper first and said "I've got Maki?" Takeshi then took it from him and he got some random Sand shinobi. Sighing, he handed it to Kukiko, who looked at her opponent and gasped. "I've got Hatake Sakumo?"

* * *

**So R&R! I hope you enjoyed this chapter that took a very long time for me to finish. So sorry about that!**

**This was going to be the final test, but I wanted to try to get those two to fall in love more. You know who I'm talking about. Kukiko and Sakumo! **

**Next chapter: First Fight in the final test! Look forward to it!!**

**Ha. Don't worry. I haven't given up on this story.**


	6. First Fight: Sakumo Versus Kukiko!

**Sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I was busy with school work. Trying to work on a fan fiction, while working on three to four papers for class at the same time, is not a smart idea. **

**Sakra-chan:** No, It's not Jiriayia. I do like him, but he's not my favorite. Thanks for reviewing!

**ninbunny alchemist:** You are right! It is Itachi. Hehe. Everyone felt sorry for Minato. Hopefully, nobody will hold a grudge against Kukiko for doing that to him. Thanks for reviewing!

**Raven the Ravenous:** Wow! Thanks! I thought I'd add the Minato scene to give a little needed humor to the chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

**To all of those who reviewed, but did not get a reply from me, thank you for reviewing! I hope you continue to do so! **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, if I did, Naruto, the TITLE character would actually appear in more chapters than Sasuke.

* * *

A few days after getting their opponents' names, Daijiro and Kukiko were watching Maki and Sakumo train for the upcoming exam which was in a month. Daijiro and Kukiko were hiding in bushes spying on them. Takeshi was training in another area of Konoha.

Daijiro gazed upon Maki sighing "Why? I finally fall in love and now I have to fight her for the title of Chunnin. The fates must hate me!"

Kukiko rolled her eyes at his dramatic ranting and watched Sakumo. She claimed that she was spying on him to find out his weaknesses, but her cellmates thought that was just an excuse. They felt that their foolish friend was falling in love. But every time they told her that; she'd deny it blushing.

"How can Takeshi and Daijiro accuse me of falling in love with that jerk? He insulted our village for crying out loud!" Kukiko whispered to herself; glaring at Sakumo through the leaves.

* * *

While the Iwa genin were watching them, Sakumo noticed two somewhat familiar chakras nearby. He looked at the bushes where the rock genin were hiding. Whether he knew who the chakra belonged to or not, he threw his shuriken at the rustling bushes without a second thought.

"Ouch!" Kukiko shouted jumping out of her hiding spot. Daijiro jumped up shortly after she did.

"Ouch!? Kukiko! I blocked it with my kunai before it could even touch us!" Daijiro yelled at her.

"It's just a natural reaction!" She shouted back at him.

"A natural reaction is to flinch, not shout 'ouch'!" Daijiro retorted back at her.

Before Kukiko could respond to that, Sakumo shouted with his left eye twitching, "Enough with the mindless yelling! Why were you two spying on us?"

The Iwa genin stopped their verbal argument and turned to look at the Konoha genin. Kukiko glared at Sakumo and replied "We weren't spying on you two. We were playing a game of Old Maid."

"Old Maid? That's the best you can think of at a moment's notice?" Daijiro hissed in her ear. Kukiko then elbowed him hard in the side. Daijiro put his hands over his ribs and hunched over a bit, moaning in pain.

Sakumo looked at them suspiciously. He asked "In a bush? You guys were playing Old Maid in a bush?"

"Yea. We played Old Maid in a bush that happened to be near you because we wanted some privacy!" Kukiko said. "We had no idea that you and Maki would be training here!"

Daijiro thought to himself while standing upright "Oh, he'll never believe this rubbish that Kukiko is telling him."

"Uh huh." Sakumo said in a disbelieving tone in his voice. "Well then. We will leave you to your 'game'. Come on Maki. Let's go train someplace else. Someplace more… private." He turned and left the training area. Maki smirked and waved goodbye to the Iwa genin before following Sakumo.

"Tch. What a jerk. He thinks he is so much better than me. I really don't like him right now." Kukiko muttered as soon as the Konoha genin were long gone. "I am going to train hard. I am going to humiliate him during the final exam when I pummel him into the ground at the first second of the match." She punched her fist upward towards the sky with a large smile on her face after her rant. Normally, Daijiro would roll his eyes during her rants or yell at her for thinking such idiotic thoughts, but his mind was focused on Maki and her smirk. He didn't even hear Kukiko rant this time.

"Daijiro? Daijiro? Are you even listening to me?" Kukiko shouted to Daijiro who just stood there with a goofy smile upon his face. "Oh forget it. I'm gonna start training right away." Saying that, she walked away leaving Daijiro standing there.

* * *

While she was looking for a good place to train away from the village, Minato saw her. "Hey Kukiko-chan! There you are!" He waved to her as he ran towards her.

She groaned and rubbed her temple "How are you, Minato-kun?"

"I'm fine. Hey, are you hungry? I know a great ramen stand nearby! We can have lunch there!" Minato said.

Kukiko smiled at the blond and replied "I'll have to take a rain check on that offer, Minato-kun. I've got to train for the final Chunnin exam."

"Oh! Okay then! I'll ask Jirayia-sensei to treat me to ramen!" Minato responded gleefully running off towards the hot springs.

* * *

Exhaling a sigh of relief, she continued her hunt. After a while, she stumbled upon a good area in the forest with beautiful evergreens and a huge clearing in the middle. "This seems like a good place to train. It doesn't look like anybody used this place for a while. I hope they don't mind if I borrow it for a while if they decide to come back."

As the sun started to set and the sky started to get darker, she cleaned up her weapons and packed up her gear. "I should be getting back to the hotel now. My teammates must be getting worried." She left the forest and started her trek back to hotel. Kukiko was halfway there when she saw a silhouette in the moonlight. It was on the roof of the academy. Curiously, she crept up to the top of the academy. When she got closer, the shadow figure she saw turned out to be Sakumo gazing at the Hokage Mountain.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be goofing off in your hotel room?" Sakumo asked her without turning to see who it was that intruded on his private time.

"It's creepy that you knew that I was here and who I was without looking at me." Kukiko said walking closer to him.

"I can recognize you by your clumsy footsteps." Sakumo replied.

Kukiko frowned and said "I wasn't being clumsy. I was walking normally for your information!"

Sakumo turned to face her, his face lit by the moonlight. "Whatever. You still haven't answered me. What are you doing here?"

"I saw a figure sitting on top of the academy basked in the moonlight. I was curious to know who it was, so I came up here."

"You shouldn't do that. You never know. I could have been an assassin waiting for the perfect moment to strike. You could have been killed in a mere second." Sakumo replied turning to look upon the Hokage Mountain once more.

"You would have made a horrible assassin. You would have been caught. The moon would have given away your presence before you could get to complete your mission." She told him walking up beside him and sitting next to him.

"True. Next time, I'll be careful." Sakumo replied with a smirk.

Kukiko saw that smirk and said "Ha. The great Hatake Sakumo smirked! The awesome Kagome Kukiko made him have another facial expression besides a frown!" She grinned. Sakumo rolled his eyes at her antics. "Or a bored expression!" She added to that.

He lightly hit her arm and his smirk grew a little wider. She smiled and asked him "Hey Sakumo. Why did you come up here at night?"

Sakumo's smirk went away as he replied "I come up here to think and calm myself. My dad expects me to live up to the Hatake name. Coming up here at night soothes me and I can think of what do the next day. It was quiet and peaceful until you came up here."

"Funny. Takeshi says that last sentence to me all the time." She said. "Hey Sakumo. You need more fun in your boring life. Come with me tomorrow morning and we'll spend the day tomorrow after we train. We can play pranks on Minato, and you can show me around the village. Oh, Sakumo! It will be a great day for the both of us! I won't take no for an answer. Meet me at the village gates at six in the morning!" Then she got up and waved goodbye to Sakumo and rushed back to the hotel for the night.

* * *

The next morning, Kukiko arrived at six on the nose. When she arrived at the gates, Sakumo was already there waiting for her. "Wow. You are early." She told him.

"Of course. A good shinobi never makes anybody wait for their arrival." He replied back.

She rolled her eyes and said "Come on. Let's go train." She led the way to the place where she trained the previous day. "Isn't this a great place, Sakumo?"

Sakumo grunted a reply and started to train. Kukiko frowned at his 'response' and also started to train. As the sun rose above them, the two sweaty genin dropped their weapons. "Okay, Sakumo. That's enough! Let's go get lunch." They went to the ramen stand and Minato was already there inhaling ramen like it was precious oxygen. Three empty bowls were beside him.

"Hey Minato." They said. Minato muffled a hello back to them. Sakumo ordered beef ramen for the both of them. They ate in peace and Sakumo paid for their meal. Kukiko thanked him and he nodded. Then he took her on a tour of Konoha and they ended at the stream near sunset when Kukiko playfully pushed him into the stream. Sakumo grabbed her wrist and pulled her in with him as he fell. They had a water fight there. Sakumo and Kukiko laughed and as the moon rose, they laid on the grass pointing out constellations to each other.

Sakumo smiled as he couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun. Kukiko fell asleep in the grass, so he picked her up and took her back to the hotel.

The rest of the month was spent training, and spending time together. Kukiko and Sakumo blushed anytime their friends would tease them about it. In defense, Kukiko would tease Daijiro about his feelings for Maki and then it would turn into a huge fight and Takeshi would get up and leave the room.

* * *

On the exam day, Kukiko woke up dreading to fight her new friend. She was even starting to admit that she was feeling something for him. She hoped that Sakumo was feeling something for her. "Don't be silly, Kukiko. He probably only thinks of you as a friend." Little did she know; Sakumo was at their training area thinking the same thing.

* * *

A few hours later at the stadium, the exam protector was giving out the rules of the matches. He called out the first two to fight when he was finished. "Hatake Sakumo and Kagome Kukiko. You two stay. The rest of you go up there and wait for your turn." The rest of the genin marched off with their teachers. Daijiro wished Kukiko luck as Maki walked by and he followed her.

Kukiko sighed and walked up to Sakumo. "May the best person win." She said as they shook hands. "Don't go easy on me, Sakumo. I don't intend to go easy on you."

Sakumo nodded as they pulled out their weapons of choice. Sakumo held a kunai, Kukiko held a shuriken. They then got into their fighting poses. The exam instructor yelled for the match to start then he stepped out of harm's way.

Kukiko engaged him by throwing her kunai at him and as he dodged, she used the transportation jutsu and got behind him. She reached out to kick his torso, but he caught her foot and twirled around in a circle and tossed her aside.

As she was getting up, Sakumo disappeared. She looked around for him and felt her ankle being pulled into the ground. "Déjà vu." She muttered as she remembered this. She freed herself and did a couple of hand signs and vines wrapped around his ankle and wrists. He struggled as she tightened the vines.

She had the vines toss him in the air and spin him around until he got dizzy. She laughed glad she improved her jutsu. "Dad will be proud of me." She grinned as she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Sakumo standing there. "But how?"

"I used a substitution jutsu. Don't think that I forgot that you could easily free yourself." Sakumo said grinning as he prepared his next move while Kukiko looked up and saw her vines spinning around a log.

She frowned as she felt an electrical shock coursing through her body. Grimacing in pain, her vines fell back into the earth and the log dropped as she fell to the ground.

Sakumo was about to declare himself a winner, when he felt stony thorns on a vine prick his body. He looked at Kukiko who was finishing up some hand signs. Looking at her handiwork, she frowned. "Darn. I guess I still have to practice that move." The vine fell apart because it couldn't hold the weight of the stones and then Sakumo made a clone and both he and the clone threw shuriken at Kukiko. Kukiko managed to dodge it and while she was distracted by evading that move, Sakumo appeared out of nowhere and punched her chest.

Kukiko snarled at him and tried to get her vines to wrap around him but he was faster than the vines and wrapped Kukiko with a larger electrical shock.

When the blue sparks diminished, Kukiko fainted, her hair standing up on its ends.

"The winner! Hatake Sakumo!" The exam proctor announced as the crowd went wild with cheers. Kukiko was lifted off the field by a stretcher. Sakumo ran to her and asked a medic nin if she was alright.

"She'll be fine. Don't worry about it." The medic nin said as Kukiko was taken away.

Her sensei, Torao followed them, concerned with two things. One was the welfare of his student and the other Kukiko's mother's rage when she saw her child injured. Sakumo stood there with a guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach as Hiro took him to a safe place to watch the remainder of the tournament.

When everything was settled down, the exam proctor announced the next two fighters. "Hayashi Daijiro and Maki, please come down here. It's your turn to fight."

* * *

**Funny, how I wasn't even expecting to have Daijiro and Maki fall in love. I guess it works. lol. I will try to have the next chapter up by next weekend. Who do you want to win the fight? Daijiro or Maki? Or do you want it to be a draw? Please review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**Next Chapter: The Second Fight! Daijiro Vs Maki! Look forward to it. **


	7. Second Fight: Daijiro VS Maki

**Thanks for reading and reviewing my last chapter everybody!!**

**Thanks for the reviews and the poll participation:** mathcraze, Raven the Ravenous, ninbunny alchemist, and Sakra-chan!!!

I forgot to tell you guys something that I was going to tell you on the last chapter. It is about Kukiko's jutsu. You know when she wraps vines around her opponent? Well, she is supposed to have the ability to transform those vines into the elements where she is at during the moment. If she is around stones her vines are stony, if she is around fire or water, her vines are fiery or a thick watery whip. But during her fight with Sakumo, her vines were supposed to be regular vines, but since she was born and raised in Iwa, she only practiced with stony vines. So, the stones broke the weight of the fragile vine. She hasn't mastered that jutsu yet. That explains her family jutsu and now to continue on with the story!!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. I never have and I never will.

* * *

"Hayashi Daijiro and Maki! Please come down here now! I don't have all day!!" the exam proctor shouted towards the crowd of genins and their teachers.

The two genins walked down the stairs and stepped onto the battlefield; the ground was littered with vines and scorched grass from the previous battle. They stood on the opposite ends of the arena.

Daijiro gazed upon Maki and said to himself, "I don't want to fight her. I don't want to win and have her hate me. But I don't want to lose to a girl either."

Daijiro was still struggling with his inner turmoil as the exam proctor started the fight. Maki and Daijiro stood there and gazed at each other. The audience was getting impatient and was starting to shout profanities at the genin on the battlefield.

Before the exam proctor made any moves to make the Chunin candidates start their fight, Maki started the fight by doing a couple of hand seals and the soil around Daijiro flew up and began to circle him like a tornado. As the dirt covered him from sight, she threw two shuriken at the tornado of dirt.

As soon as she did that, she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned to face that only to see that Daijiro managed to escape the shuriken, however he was covered from head to toe with dirt and mud. He punched her, not as hard as he normally would have, she then retaliated by ducking down and kicking out her left leg at his knees to try to bring him down. He dodged that and did a few hand seals. A couple of large rocks lifted up into the sky and flew towards Maki and tried to hit her. Maki managed to avoid the rocks, except the last one that landed on her left leg as she was dodging a rock that flew straight at her. She held her tongue to prevent herself from screaming out in pain. Daijiro threw some kunai at her with the hilt of the kunai facing her to try to knock her out. Maki grabbed her wounded leg and pushed herself out of the path of the oncoming weapons.

* * *

Meanwhile, during the fight, Sakumo tried not to show concern about Kukiko, but he couldn't hide it from Hiro. "Come on, Sakumo. I'm sure she's just resting now. Do you want to go and see her?"

Sakumo shook his head and tried to focus on Maki's battle. Hiro groaned and replied "Yo, Sakumo. I know when you can't concentrate on something. We haven't had those team-building training sessions for nothing. Come on, I will tell you the results of Maki's match later." Sighing, Sakumo silently followed Hiro towards the infirmary where Kukiko was.

* * *

Reaching the room where all wounded participants were, Hiro opened the door and let Sakumo pass through. He then left to watch the remainder of Maki's match.

Sakumo approached Kukiko's bedside. Her teacher, Torao was there with a worried look on his face. Torao heard the movement behind him and he turned around to see Sakumo. "She's fine. She was just awake a minute ago, loud and obnoxious as ever."

Sakumo looked at the sleeping female, a look of relief passed on his face. He reached out to touch her hand, but he pulled his hand back as quickly as possible.

Torao smirked and told him "I sent a messenger bird to her mother. Once she reads it, she will be rushing here in a matter of days. I told her not to… but her mother won't listen to me. She didn't want Kukiko to be a ninja like her father. She told me that she was tired of being worried sick about her husband whenever he left for a mission. She didn't want to add her daughter to her stress. She will be furious of course. I would hide if I were you when Mrs. Kagome shows up."

Sakumo looked at Torao's face with no emotions as he spoke up, "I will not run when Mrs. Kagome comes. I will face her and deal with her fury then. But, I wanted to see if Kukiko was alright. I… don't know why. Normally, I don't care if I hurt my enemies, but… I got a weird guilty feeling in the pit of my gut when I saw her faint after the electricity went through her body."

He turned to leave but Torao stopped him by placing his hand firmly on his shoulder. "You are falling for my student, aren't you?

Sakumo turned to face him and glared at him. "No, I am not. Love is an unnecessary emotion. Shinobi don't need that in their lives."

Torao rolled his eyes and told him "Love is what drives humans, ninjas or not, to protect the ones they care deeply about. Without love, living things would have died out a long time ago." With that said, he left to watch his other students match.

* * *

Sakumo walked back to Kukiko's bedside and sat down on a chair that was already there. Kukiko's eyes fluttered open and she flinched as her eyes were getting adjusted to the lights. She sat up and looked around. When she saw Sakumo sitting there with a look of concern on his face, she smirked and said "I will have to defeat you one of these days, Sakumo. Don't get so depressed. One day, you will be able to say that Kagome Kukiko has defeated you!!"

Sakumo's frown went away quickly replaced by an amused smile. "I'm glad you are okay, Kukiko."

Kukiko smiled in return and responded "Don't blame yourself for placing me in the infirmary, Sakumo. If that is what you are worried about. We both wanted the title of Chunnin. I would have done the same if I were you. Besides, I am fine. I will be able to get out of here soon and train to defeat you."

Sakumo smirked and said "I wasn't worried about that. I was hoping that your voice box was damaged so Konoha would be nice and peaceful again… with the exception of Minato that is." He said cringing at his friend's constantly loud voice.

Kukiko knew that he was just joking and lightly punched him in the shoulder. They laughed together, enjoying the peace until they heard shouting outside in the hallway.

"You were supposed to watch over her for me!!! Now, she's in the infirmary? I knew that she shouldn't have followed in her father's footsteps!" A livid sounding voice shouted that could be heard throughout the building.

"Oh Great." Kukiko cringed. "Mom's here."

"Mom? Your mom? I thought she wasn't supposed to arrive for another couple of days!?" Sakumo said in shock.

"Heh. Mom has her ways of traveling very fast when she wants to."

The door banged open and a middle-aged woman ran up to Kukiko's bed, her black hair tumbling out from under her bandana. She grabbed her daughter in a bone-crushing hug and cried in Kukiko's hair.

"Kukiko, sweetheart! I'm so glad you are alright! I was so worried about you that I was on my way to Konoha to see your match when the messenger bird reached me. I hurried here as fast as I could when I read the message. I would have been here faster, but my body doesn't move as fast as it used to." Mrs. Kagome spoke so fast, that nobody could understand her… except Kukiko, who was used to her mother acting like this.

"Mom! I…can't…breathe!" Kukiko said, trying to push her mother off.

Mrs. Kagome let her go and then noticed the boy that was right beside her. "Hello. Are you the boy who hurt my daughter?"

Sakumo reluctantly nodded and then he was lifted off the ground by the collar of his shirt and was pushed against the wall.

"I will put you in a coma. Don't underestimate me because I am not a shinobi. Nobody hurts my child and gets away with it." Mrs. Kagome said her anger escalating to a boiling point.

"MOM!" Kukiko shouted, climbing out of bed and tried to pull her mother off of Sakumo.

"Not now, Kukiko! As soon as I am finished with him, we are going home. I have already told your teacher that."

"MOM! He had to fight me! It is for the title of Chunin! He had no other choice! It is my fault for not defending myself well! Don't hurt him, Mom! We were just doing what we had to do!!"

Mrs. Kagome let Sakumo go, glaring at him venomously. Sakumo clenched his chest, breathing hard as his heart pumped wildly.

"Kukiko. We are leaving. Pack your things. I want you to resign from this career choice of yours. It is way too dangerous."

"No, Mom. I want to do this. I love being a kunoichi. It is exhilarating and it gives me the freedom that I never had before I started the academy. I am not going to resign from this. I am going to train so I will be as strong as dad and you won't have to worry about me."

"Kukiko, I know how strong your father is, but I still get worried sick when he leaves for a mission. I didn't worry about you when you did D ranked missions, because I could keep an eye on you. Now you are taking higher ranked missions and I get even more worried. I don't want to lose either of you."

Kukiko hugged her mother and replied "Mom, you have to trust me. I've got a great teacher and great teammates. We will watch over each other and protect each other. That why, we can complete our missions and we can come home safely to our families. Trust in Torao-sensei, Mom. He has done a great job so far."

Mrs. Kagome was still unconvinced as she and her kid continued hugging. Thoughts of her daughter's happiness and safety were running through her head. Sakumo inched away from the pair and headed for the door when Hiro ran in.

"Sakumo! It was a draw. I don't know what is wrong with Maki! She didn't use her full power on this guy. Her opponent was also holding back. They are resting with the rest of the students. Also, don't worry about Maki's leg. A medic nin healed it for her. She is no longer limping. The final Iwa genin is fighting now. I hate to say it, but he looks strong, whereas the Sand genin looks weak. My match is next!"

"Thanks Hiro. Oh.. Hiro. This is Kukiko's mother." He said pointing to the woman who listened on in their conversation. What she heard didn't make her feel any better.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs.….?" Hiro began to say holding out his hand to greet the woman.

"Kagome. Ayaka Kagome." She replied shaking Hiro's hand.

"Mom, could you please go watch the match? I want to know how Takeshi is faring with his opponent, but the nurses won't let me leave just yet."

"Of course, sweetie. Hiro, could you please show me where the arena is?"

"Yes Mrs. Kagome." Hiro responded leading Ayaka to the arena.

* * *

As soon as the two had left, Torao popped his head into the room and quickly said "Gomen! She was angry and I was expecting her to arrive so soon!"

"It's alright, Torao-sensei. You can go and check on Daijiro." Kukiko said as her teacher rushed to Daijiro's aide.

"Um. Thanks for um… saving me from your mother's wrath." Sakumo said nervously.

"No problem. Although; she will hold a grudge against you the rest of your life. Be careful around her." Kukiko said for once in her life seriously.

Sakumo gulped and replied "Um… well... I guess there are a few things that I am scared of after all."

Kukiko patted his hand to calm him down as they listened to the bustling noise of the infirmary.

* * *

Takeshi finished his battle in five minutes; the sand genin was quickly taken off to the infirmary. Torao was crying tears of joy. He was happy that one of his students won.

Hiro struggled with his opponent, but he won at the last minute when he transported himself in a cloud of smoke around his opponent and blew a large fireball at the shinobi. His family was watching him in the stands, ecstatic that he finally perfected that move. Fugaku glared at Hiro beside his mother. He was still learning that move. He was upset that his second cousin mastered it first.

Daijiro sat beside Maki while the other matches where going on. He reached for Maki's hand and she didn't remove it. She smiled at him, and leaned on his shoulder. Daijiro felt like he was flying at the moment. He was so happy that she wasn't angry at him. She felt the same.

* * *

**Okay then. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. While you are reading this, I am writing the next chapter right now. I know! You are shocked aren't you? My muse finally came back. She ran off during finals week. No more finals, which means I have more time to work on my fanfictions! Yay!!! Lulz. I have the sequal all lined up in my head. I want to finish this so I can write about the baby!! Lulz!! **

**Next chapter is ....Untitled at the moment.. But... Look Forward to it! XD**


	8. What is feeling that I have?

**Thanks for reading and reviewing my last chapter everybody!!**

**mathcraze: **Be patient. True love doesn't blossom overnight. Sakumo and Kukiko will eventually get together. But, not right away of course. Thanks for the review!

**Raven the Ravenous**: Lulz! XD Yeah, the Chunnin exams are over. Thanks for the review!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. I do however own Kukiko, her Iwa team and her mom.

* * *

A few days later, the battles were all completed. Everybody had recovered from their injuries and Torao had summoned Takeshi for a brief chat. Sakumo was summoned by the Hokage for a meeting.

Kukiko was out at the river; she had taken her shoes off and was dangling her feet into the water.

She was trying to avoid her mother. Ever since she got out of the infirmary, Ayaka had been by her side all the time. She even had Kukiko move out of her hotel room that she was sharing with Daijiro and Takeshi and into a new room with her. Kukiko had spent all of the money that she had brought with her and her mother was nagging her about managing her money more responsibly. Ayaka was disappointed that Kukiko didn't budget her money like she told Kukiko everyday for the week before the Chunnin exams to do so.

Now that the exams were over, they were about to head back to Iwa. A part of Kukiko didn't want to leave yet, another part of her was excited to go home and sleep in her own bed. Daijiro and Maki had their first date the previous night. It obviously went well because Kukiko could see those two kissing on the park bench across the river. Kukiko smirked at how depressed Daijiro would be on the journey home.

It was quiet for the next couple of minutes, and then Kukiko saw Takeshi headed towards her. She waved at him as he reached her. "What's up?" She asked him. "What did Torao-sensei want from you?"

"I made Chunnin. He wanted to congratulate me. He had this goofy grin on his face the entire time." Takeshi replied.

"Congratulations on making Chunnin, Takeshi! Can you show me your vest?" Kukiko asked him, looking for the vest.

"Torao-sensei told me that the Tsuchikage will be giving it to me when we get home." He explained to her. "Oh that reminds me! Torao-sensei wanted me to tell you and Daijiro that we are heading back to Iwa tomorrow morning. He wants us to pack our things immediately, since we are leaving early."

With that said, Takeshi forced chakra into his feet and then he crossed the river to speak with Daijiro. Daijiro looked furious at Takeshi for interrupting him and Maki. Kukiko's smile had slipped to a frown during the conversation. She watched the three across the river. Daijiro went from being furious to depressed, as Kukiko predicted he would. He hugged Maki, it seems like he was already saying goodbye to her. Maki's tears started to fall upon his shoulder, she couldn't hold it in. Takeshi had left a while ago to pack his things.

* * *

Kukiko decided to leave the couple and head towards the hotel. But as she started walking towards the hotel, she veered away from the path and headed to look for Sakumo. She found him in front of the Hokage Tower. There was a man with him with silver hair like Sakumo and he wore a large grin upon his face. She eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Son, I couldn't be more proud of you!! The Hatake clan will be respected now that my son has made Chunnin before that obnoxious Uchiha brat!" The man said embracing Sakumo in a hug.

"Father! That is my cellmate you are referring to!" Sakumo responded, pushing his father away. Kukiko could then see him holding his Chunnin vest under his armpit.

"So! Cellmate or not, I will have something to gloat about at the Clan Head meeting!" He laughed.

Rolling his eyes, he shouted towards the shadows; "Kukiko. I know you are there! Come out and stop hiding now!"

"Damn!" Kukiko whispered to herself and she walked out of her hiding spot and closer to them. "I don't know how you can keep on doing that!"

"It's easy. You are not good at being stealthy. A regular person, not trained to be a shinobi could hear you." Sakumo replied.

"Not true! You just have super powered hearing!!" Kukiko retorted!

Sakumo smirked and turned towards his father, who seemed curious about the girl and her relationship with Sakumo. "Father, this is Kagome Kukiko. She is one of the Iwa representatives for this exam."

"Nice to meet you Hatake-san." Kukiko said holding out her hand, which he took.

"Nice to meet you too… Oh! I remember you! Sakumo whopped your butt during the exams didn't he?"

Kukiko tried not to glare lasers at him for respect and nodded. "Yes, Hatake-san. He did."

"Please, call me Isamu! I'm not that fond of the formality." Isamu said with a grin.

Sakumo tried to cover his embarrassment by changing the subject. "So, Kukiko. Any reason you decided to come and eavesdrop on a conversation between my father and me?"

"Oh… I wanted to tell you something." Kukiko said hesitating.

"Well? What is it?" Sakumo said trying to get her to hurry. Isamu stood there with a grin still plastered upon his face.

"Um...well…congratulations on becoming Chunnin and also I wanted to inform you that my team and I are heading home tomorrow morning. I wanted to say goodbye to you before I started packing."

Sakumo then replied "Okay then, goodbye." He started to walk away from the two, his father said bye to Kukiko and followed Sakumo.

* * *

Kukiko looked shocked at him and said her goodbye quickly and rushed to the hotel. She reached the hotel doors when she started to cry. "I knew he wouldn't care. Why did I fall for him in the first place? He's such a jerk!" She stood by the doors and cried for a while until she forced herself to stop crying and enter the hotel.

Sakumo managed to lose his father and ran off to the park. He kicked a nearby tree and plopped down on a bench. "She managed to get me to open up. I thought I bottled my emotions tightly when I first entered the academy. Why is she leaving so soon? I don't even know where in Iwa that she lives. I haven't even told her how I felt about her." He buried his face in his hands and screamed. The birds nesting in the trees; flew away leaving their eggs unattended when he startled them.

* * *

A couple of hours later, as the sun started to set, Ayaka found Kukiko lying on her bed, looking out the window.

"Hey sweetie. Have you packed your things yet?"

"Yes."

"Are you hungry? I'm going to grab some dinner. Do you want anything?" Ayaka said approaching her daughter.

"No Mom. I'm not hungry. I don't want anything." Kukiko replied in a sad, monotone voice. Ayaka was shocked. Her daughter had never once turned down a meal before.

"What's wrong, honey?" She said sitting down on the bed and patting Kukiko's leg.

"Nothing, Mom. I'm just tired."

"Okay then. I'll get something for you anyway in case you get hungry later. Get some rest." Ayaka kissed Kukiko's forehead and left the room. Shortly after her mother left, a tear escaped her tear duct and fell slowly down her cheek.

* * *

Sakumo was at a sushi restaurant; his family celebrating his promotion. His teacher was invited along with his cellmates. Hiro and the teacher showed up, but Maki declined the invitation. Everyone was enjoying, drinking sake or water, eating sushi, and gabbing. Sakumo kept poking at his sushi roll, not really hungry. Hiro noticed something was wrong with his friend, so he leaned over the table and said "Yo, Saku!!! What's wrong with you?"

Sakumo glared at Hiro and pushed him away. "Nothing is wrong. I'm just not in the mood to party. Also, don't call me Saku! You know I don't like that nickname!"

"Yo, Sakumo. Chill. This party is for you. You made it to Chunnin. You don't have to retake the test like Maki and I do." Hiro replied.

"I know that! Hiro, that's not why I'm upset." Sakumo replied frowning.

"So, you admit to being upset. That's a first." Hiro replied taking a large gulp of his water.

"Nevermind. I have to go." Sakumo said getting up and heading towards the door of the restaurant.

"Sakumo! Come on! I was kidding!" Hiro shouted towards him.

Sakumo ignore Hiro as he left the building and began walking towards the park. He put his hands into his pocket and plopped down on the grass. He laid down and looked at the stars. Sighing, he thought about Kukiko and her smile. "Geez. Why do I keep thinking about her? I don't know why I care whether she goes back home or not. Kukiko… I need to talk to her before she leaves."

Kukiko had walked out of the hotel and was wandering aimlessly around the village. She happened upon the park and saw Sakumo lying on the grass. She tried to turn around and walk the other way, but Sakumo knew she was there. He felt her chakra when she stepped foot on the park boundaries.

"Kukiko!" Sakumo shouted, getting up. "Kukiko! Stay for a minute! I need to talk to you!!"

Kukiko stopped in her tracks and turned around facing him. "What do you want?"

"I … I can't stop thinking about you. I don't know what's wrong with me." Sakumo told her.

"Well. I'm sorry that I keep occupying your thoughts. I'm leaving in the morning, so you don't have to worry about that anymore." She snapped at him. "I have to go to sleep now. I don't know what I'm still doing up." She turned away from him and started to head towards the hotel.

"Kukiko! Wait!" Sakumo shouted, reaching out towards her.

She ignored him and tried not to show him any of her emotions as she practically ran back to the hotel for the night.

Sakumo watched her leave and frowned. He kicked a tree and cursed. Then he walked to his house, where his father was waiting for him outside.

"There you are, Sakumo! You have no idea how worried your mother and I were. Disappearing during your party is very rude manners." Isamu scolded him.

"Sorry, father. I just wanted some fresh air." Sakumo said trying to walk into the house. Isamu blocked his path and glared at him.

"What is wrong with you, Sakumo? You have been down in the dumps ever since that girl talked to you! Did she do anything to you?"

"No, father. No, she didn't. Now, could you please move aside?" Sakumo replied.

"If she didn't do anything to you then you would be a little happier. Not that happier; considering I haven't seen you smile until the Chunnin exams started." Isamu responded.

Sakumo snapped and yelled "I can't stop thinking about her! My heart starts to pound fast around her and my hands get clammy. It's a wonder that I can hold a conversation with her!!"

Isamu's eyes widened. "Wow. Either you have a huge crush on the girl on you are madly in love with her. I think it's the latter."

Sakumo glared at Isamu and replied "Okay. I told you, now could you please move aside?"

"I will, but you promise me one thing. You either tell this girl how you feel about her before she leaves or you will end up suffering with these feelings for her and she will end up with another guy, leaving you in the dust." Isamu said moving out of the way.

Sakumo looked at his father curiously. "You sound like you are speaking from experience."

Isamu shrugged. "Before I met your mother, there was this girl that I was in love with. I didn't realize it, until she moved to another village. By the time, I found her and told her how I felt; she was already in love with another guy. My heart was crushed. I don't want the same thing happening to you." After telling that story to him, Isamu walked into the house. Sakumo pondered what he had told him as he followed his father into the house.

* * *

The next morning, Kukiko had woken up early and took a shower. Ayaka was still snoring in the bed next to her. As Kukiko was brushing her hair, her mother woke up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and went to take a shower. When her mother was in the shower, Kukiko changed into fresh clothes and checked to make sure everything was packed and ready to go.

An hour later, Ayaka and Kukiko had eaten breakfast and checked out of the hotel. They were headed towards the village gates where Takeshi and the others would be waiting for them. She saw them, Daijiro was poking the ground with a stick, pouting. Takeshi was reading a book, leaning against the wall. Torao saw them and waved to them.

Kukiko returned the wave and started to walk towards them, when she felt a firm hand on her arm, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around and saw that Sakumo was the one holding her and Maki was right beside him. Maki ran to Daijiro and embraced him.

Kukiko couldn't watch them because Sakumo was dragging her away.

"Sakumo! What do you want with me? My team has to go home right now!" Kukiko shouted, trying to pull away from him.

"Kukiko. I need to talk to you for a second." He told her turning a corner and facing her.

"What do you want?" Kukiko said in a harsh tone.

"I spoke to my father last night. He told me what was wrong with me. Kukiko… I think I'm in love with you. I don't know for sure yet. But it would explain why my heart is pounding like crazy right now. When I first met you, I thought you were more annoying then Minato. I didn't want anything to do with you. But as we took the exam together, I realized there was more to you than what meets the eye. When I was with you, I had the most fun that I've had as long as I can remember." Sakumo turned red as he admitted that.

Kukiko blushed, her face turning as red as a tomato as Sakumo told her his feelings.

"Funny. When I first met you, I thought you a bigger jerk than Takeshi was. I wanted so badly to pummel you into the ground." Kukiko admitted. "But as I got to know you more, I started to have feelings for you as well. If this is what they call love, then Sakumo… I love you too!"

Sakumo smiled the largest smile that he had for a long time as he embraced her in a tight hug. They gazed into each other's eyes and slowly leaned in towards the lips. Then they had their first kiss. Kukiko felt like she was going to faint with the explosion of feelings she felt right then as they kissed. Sakumo's heart pounded faster.

They didn't realize they had an audience until Daijiro cheered. They broke away from each other and blushed. Ayaka was crying, wiping her tears off with a handkerchief.

"My baby has a boyfriend! I am so happy!"

"Mom!" Kukiko blushed, embarrassed.

"Congrats, Kukiko. But sadly, we have to go now." Torao said. "We are behind schedule. We were supposed to be leaving two minutes ago."

"Okay. I'll be right there." Kukiko said. After the audience had left, Kukiko looked at Sakumo and asked "Will we ever see each other again?"

"Any mission to Iwa that is available, I'm gonna take it. You better not fall in love with another guy while we are separated." Sakumo teased.

Kukiko smiled and told him "I could say the same. The next Chunnin exam is in Iwa…so… when I become Chunnin, I will take any mission to Konoha that I can get."

They kissed once more, and walked hand and hand to the village gates. There they said their goodbyes and Maki sobbed as she kissed Daijiro once more, until Takeshi dragged Daijiro away. Sakumo patted Maki's back as he waved goodbye to Kukiko.

"We will see each other again. I just know it." They both thought at the same time as the Iwa team walked away until the Konoha gates were no longer in sight.

* * *

**Well, they have finally admitted their feelings to each other! There will a timeskip in the next chapter! Now, that they are in love, this story is just about over. But don't fret! There still is a sequeal coming up! Yay! XD**

**Next Chapter: Sakumo has a surprise for Kukiko! Look forward to it!!**

**I have a plan for Daijiro and Maki. That might be the only surprise coming up, since you already know what will happen to the main couple! XD Thanks for reading!!**


	9. The Anticapted Question

I am sorry to all of my readers about the large gap between chapters. As you all know, life can get hectic. I hope you all enjoy the final chapter.

Thank you for all the reviews. And Raven, you know I love the sap. *snickers* Yes, you are right.

* * *

Ten years have passed since Kukiko and Sakumo had first met. Kukiko and Daijiro had worked hard and had become Jounin. Takeshi had received ANBU status, so Kukiko and Daijiro rarely saw Takeshi as much as they used to. Not that Takeshi planned to meet them after all, he was very busy. Sakumo had also become an ANBU which enabled him to take more missions to Iwa to see his girlfriend. Daijiro and Maki were still together. Maki was a Jounin also. Hiro was killed in an ambush while bringing an important scroll back home.

On one crisp cool spring morning, Kukiko and Daijiro were heading to Konoha to meet with their friends. They finally had some time off after months of hard work.

"Do you think they know we are coming?" Daijiro asked as he stretched his arms.

Kukiko rolled her eyes. "Of course they do. I told them we were thinking of coming about two weeks ago."

"Oh. Right. I forgot you did that." He said sheepishly, rubbing his head.

"Sometimes you make me wonder how you even got to the Jounin rank."

"OI!" Daijro shouted as Kukiko laughed till tears came down her cheeks. "I fail to see how that's so funny, Kukiko!"

"It just is. Geez. Lighten up will ya? You are turning into Takeshi." Kukiko said giggling.

"……. I am not turning into him." He muttered under his breath while Kukiko was chuckling now, starting to calm down a little.

"Sure Daijiro. Whatever you say." She responded as she looked ahead of them, seeing the gates of Konoha. "We are here now."

Daijiro smiled when he saw the gates, happy to be able to see Maki once more. He started running to the gates.

"Oi! Daijiro! Wait up!" Kukiko shouted as she followed him. They reached the gates and showed their passes to the guards, which enabled them to pass without much trouble. Once they had gotten through, they had split up without a word to each other. Each of them headed to their girlfriend/boyfriend's place.

* * *

When Daijiro got to Maki's place, he knocked on the door and waited. Maki's roommate, Ayako had opened the door instead of Maki. Daijiro frowned seeing her.

Ayako rolled her eyes at his reaction. "Nice to see you too, Daijiro. I know what you are gonna ask. Maki's not home. She said she'd be at the park. Try there."

He smiled when she told him. "Thanks Ayako-chan!" He responded and ran off to the park.

Ayako watched him leave, sighing. "Must be nice to be in love." With that said, she went back inside, shutting the door.

* * *

After reaching the park, he looked around seeing kids run around and their parents watching them on the park benches. Some parents were playing with their children. He saw Maki sitting on a bench near the fountain and smiled, running to her, shouting her name to get her attention. Maki looked up from the book she was reading and her eyes lit up when she saw Daijiro. She put the book down and got up. They hugged and kissed when they got to each other.

"I missed you so much Maki-chan!" Daijiro said kissing her passionelty.

Maki smiled and kissed him back. "Ditto. It's been at least a month or two and I was considering going to Iwa to see you again."

"We have so much to catch up on and so little time. Where to start? Oh. We can go for a stroll around the park." Daijiro said, smiling more than he has in a long time.

"Before we do that, I have some news to share with you." Maki said. "You may want to sit down for this, Daijiro-kun."

"Um. Alright." He said sitting down. He was a little worried on what Maki had to tell him.

Maki looked at him and took a deep breath before starting to talk. "Do you remember the last time, when I had visited you in Iwa about a month or two ago? We made love to each other on the final night before I had to head home. Remember that?"

He lifted his eyebrow. "Of course I do. Why?" He caught on quickly after asking that and stood up with his eyes widened. "Maki. Are you… are you pregnant?"

Maki nodded her head. "Yes, I'm pregnant. I took about ten pregnancy tests to make sure. Then I took some time off being a ninja and took a temporary job at the missions room."

"I can't believe it. I'm gonna be a father so soon?" Daijiro's legs seemed to turn into jelly as he plopped on the park bench.

She sighed. "It's all up to you on whether you want to be involved in this child's life or not. I wouldn't want to be a single mother, but I don't want to force you into this." She then sat next to him and grabbed his hand.

Daijiro looked at her hand then her. "Well. I do want to be involved in raising our child, Maki. But. I don't want the child having to have to travel between countries to spend some time with the both of us. One of us will have to move in with each other."

Maki smiled when she heard that. "Well, I don't think you moving here would be great. Ayako would eventually complain that the apartment is too small for four people living in it. I can't really afford my own place at the moment either."

"You want to move to Iwa? I have my own place. It's not that big, but I'm sure three people could live in it comfortably. We should have some money to move into a bigger place when the child gets a little older."

Maki grinned. "I guess it's settled. I'm moving to your place. I just have to fill out some paperwork to change countries, but still be a loyal Konoha kunoichi."

Daijiro grinned and hugged her. "This is great! I was going to ask you to move in with me eventually, so the timing is actually kind of perfect!"

With that, they sealed the deal with a kiss and got up. Daijiro followed her back to her place to help her pack her things.

* * *

Meanwhile, while Daijiro was heading to Maki's place, Kukiko had reached Sakumo's place and knocked on the door. Sakumo answered the door and shortly after he was tackled to the floor with a kiss on the lips.

Sakumo smirked. "Hello Kukiko-chan. It's good to see you again as well. You had arrived earlier than I had anticapted."

"God, I missed you so damn much!" Kukiko said and kissed him again. "Yeah, we had gotten a day off earlier than we thought so we left as soon as possible."

"I missed you too." He responded, smirking more. "I'm actually glad you came now."

"Why's that?" Kukiko asked, titling her head a little.

"No reason." Sakumo replied, getting up and kissing her again. "Are you hungry? I can take you out to a nice restaurant."

"Nah. Daijiro and I had a quick bite at the nearest teahouse, but thanks anyway."

"Alright." Sakumo said, waiting for the perfect time. "Let's go for a walk then."

"Okay!" Kukiko smiled, grabbing his hand as he locked his door and lead her to a stroll around the village. They had gotten halfway around the village when Sakumo couldn't hold it in any longer."

"Um…oh screw it. I was gonna wait until the time was right, but I can't wait any longer."

Kukiko then lifted her eyebrows. "Wait for what?"

He grabbed her hand and got down on one knee. "Kukiko." He reached into his pocket and grabbed the box he had been carrying around with him for the past two weeks. He then opened it showing an engagement ring with a small diamond in it. "Will you marry me?"

Her eyes large and she inhaled as she was shocked. She grinned and nodded her head without thinking about it. "Yes, Yes, I will marry you!"

Sakumo smiled and put the ring on her finger and kissed her. She hugged him and kissed him more.

"I'm so happy, Sakumo! You've made my day! This is so perfect! I'm engaged to such a wonderful man!"

Sakumo grinned. "And I have the greatest woman to be my wife."

* * *

The rest of the time went by quickly as Maki moved in with Daijiro, and Kukiko moved in with Sakumo and they planned their wedding.

Six months later, they were married. Maki was about eight months pregnant so she was unable to attend the wedding. Daijiro had attended the wedding, but left before the reception began so he could be with Maki. Takeshi had taken some time off to attend his old teammates wedding and Hiro was there in spirit.

After they got back from their honeymoon, Sakumo had carried her over the threshold of his... no, their place and they had started the new chapter in their lives.

* * *

I know the entire chapter was a little rushed. This final chapter is suckish, but at least we are getting closer to seeing Kakashi. Yay. I hope you read the sequel as well. Thanks for reading and reviewing. You can continue to leave reviews to help me improve my writing! Thanks!


	10. Notice about Sequel

**The sequel to this story is now up. It's titled '**_**Expecting Kakashi**_**.' I hope to all read and enjoy it! Thank you for your support as I was working on **_**The Lives of The Hatake Clan.**_

.net/s/5990824/1/

**I hope that link works! **


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